These are the games people notice, the ones that build reputations and All-Star credentials. The Warriors have shown all season that they've abandoned the lonely basement of irrelevance, but long-hardened skeptics demand considerably more evidence.

Make that two precious gems in three days.

The Martin Luther King Day victory over the Clippers was especially interesting in the aftermath, when a number of L.A. players tried to explain that the brazen, trash-talking Warriors were not in their heads. Then came powerful Oklahoma City, looking for all the world like a winner behind the brilliance of Kevin Durant, only to take a 104-99 loss Wednesday night in the bedlam of Oracle Arena.

Those are two of the best three teams in the Western Conference, joining San Antonio, and the Warriors weren't the slightest bit fazed. They are the only team in the league to beat Miami, OKC and the Clippers, and they're doing it with distinctive flair.

Stephen Curry had another wondrous, All-Star-worthy night with 31 points, and after one ridiculously difficult shot in the third quarter - a leaping, 8-foot banker while being hurled to the ground - he rose to his knees and did that little "shimmy" dance his head coach, Mark Jackson, patented during his playing days.

Jackson didn't mind a bit. "I tell you what, the way he's playing, dance all you want," he said after the game. "I never was a guy who put braces on anybody. I want these guys to be loose, have fun. He's earned the right to dance. ... Boy, he's a special player."

Golden State might fashion the image of a high-scoring team lacking championship fiber, but the finish of this game was telling. A tight, stifling defense kept Durant and Russell Westbrook from getting open shots, and it's hard to recall many games in which Westbrook, one of the premier backcourt athletes in league history, had so little impact.

The Warriors' game-closing run was 24-11, David Lee working his way inside for a couple of crucial baskets and an assist - his first of the night, to Carl Landry - that cut OKC's lead to 94-93. With virtually every fan standing, the Thunder two points down and setting up a play with 15 seconds left, Curry stole a Durant pass intended for Kendrick Perkins, effectively icing the game. And despite combining for exactly zero field goals between them, Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli managed to contribute 11 rebounds and four steals.

"I don't think the stat sheet does these guys any justice, the impact they have on the floor," Jackson said. "It may sound crazy, but whoever's deciding the rookie-sophomore (rosters during All-Star weekend), we've got two rookies in our starting lineup and we're 11 games over .500. Just disregard the numbers and understand that these guys are playing winning basketball."

Other items of note:

-- The All-Star reserves will be announced Thursday, and Jackson isn't merely making a push for Curry and Lee; he questions the fans' vote that put Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard in the Western Conference starting lineup.

"We fall in love with names," Jackson said before the game. "But the Lakers should not have two starters this year - and I'd say the same thing if I was coaching them. I never said last year that any of my guys should have been an All-Star, because quite honestly, they should not have been."

That's not quite true. On more than one occasion last season, Jackson said Monta Ellis was deserving (an opinion shared by this column at the time). But he definitely feels stronger about his current pair of candidates. "It would be wrong, a disservice to them, if they're not on the team," he said. "They've got the numbers, they've got the wins. They'll be there if justice prevails."

-- A number of writers around the league aren't necessarily sold on Jamal Crawford, the consensus favorite, as the leading Sixth Man of the Year candidate. The Warriors' Jarrett Jack, who makes more all-around contributions to his team, will get some consideration.

-- Coach of the Year? "My leading candidate right now," Kenny Smith said on TNT the other night, "is Mark Jackson." That's coming from a friend and fellow New Yorker, but the notion is hardly far-fetched.

-- The Warriors are past the stage of alarm when it comes to Andrew Bogut. He's not playing, nor will he play until he feels 100 percent, and the team has become a force in the Western Conference without him. Still, there are traces of exasperation among club sources who think Bogut should begin fighting through any discomfort in his surgically repaired ankle and - sooner than later - rejoin the team. One even said "he's holding us hostage" by leaving so much doubt about the date of his return.

The view from here: The Warriors are well familiar with Bogut's strengths, weaknesses and tendencies. If they're going to be a playoff team with Bogut at center, they probably wouldn't need more than 4-6 weeks to make a full adjustment, and the regular season ends April 17. Early March - say, just in time for a seven-game homestand beginning March 4 - should be a signpost for the Warriors' patience.